Panniers racks which can be mounted over the front wheel of a bicycle are well known. Such racks have generally comprised a pair of laterally spaced apart rigid frames connected by a generally U-shaped yoke or brace. When the panniers rack is mounted on a bicycle, the rigid frames are typically positioned on opposite sides of the front wheel, and the U-shaped brace extends generally upwardly from one of the frames, over the wheel, and downwardly to the other frame. Conventional panniers racks are usually secured at a plurality of locations on each of the bifurcations of the steering fork using special mountings which are permanent features of the steering fork. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 639,708 discloses a parcel-carrier for bicycles which includes a frame having a plurality of slots which are engaged by support hooks mounted on the steering fork. The hook and slot arrangement allows the parcel-carder to be quickly and easily removed from the bicycle, but requires permanent mounting of the hooks to the steering fork. Mounting of the hooks to the steering fork can be difficult and time consuming and detract from the aesthetics of the bicycle when the parcel-carder is removed.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,450,988; 4,487,344 and 4,658,998 each disclose panniers carriers which are either bolted or clamped to an upper end of each of the bifurcations of the steering fork, and bolted to an apertured lug on the lower end of each of the bifurcations. Accordingly, attachment of the panniers rack described in these patents requires a specially manufactured or modified steering fork having apertured lugs. The addition of apertured lugs to an existing steering fork can be difficult and will permanently alter the aesthetics of the bicycle. A further disadvantage is that dismounting and remounting of the panniers rack disclosed in these patents requires complete removal and replacement, respectively, of a plurality of nuts and bolts. Therefore, these patents do not disclose panniers racks which are especially easy to install and remove when desired.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,460,115 discloses an apparatus for carrying panniers on opposite sides of the front wheel of the bicycle. The apparatus is said to be designed so that it can be easily installed or removed from the bicycle without tools. However, the apparatus is of extremely limited utility. Specifically, the apparatus, which generally comprises a U-shaped bar member having a bracket attached to each end thereof, does not include a framework onto which a variety of bags, containers or other objects can be supported, but instead must be used with a bag which is specially adapted to cooperate with the apparatus to form a support structure. More specifically, the apparatus can only be used with a specially designed bag having a rigid stiffener panel and a plurality of fastening means connected to the stiffening panel.
A further disadvantage with the known panniers racks is that they offer little, if any, adjustability to facilitate proper mounting thereof on a variety of bicycles having different shaped steering forks. In particular, the location of the fastening elements on the known racks are generally fixed. As a result, known panniers racks adapted to be properly mounted on a particular bicycle, may not be capable of being properly mounted on another bicycle having a steering fork which is either straighter or more arcuate than the steering fork for which the rack is designed.